Disney world question

[sugarray]

We are planning another trip to Disney World, in Orlando.

Our big question is about the dining plan.  Seems to me there are pretty mixed reviews on line about it.  I wanted to see what any of you guys think or have experienced.  We are not worried about staying on the campus the whole time and would be easier as not to have to drive much once there.

Is the Dining Plan worth it?

You get 1 quick service meal (like going to McDonald's), 1 sit down meal (Planet Hollywood), and 1 snack for each day you have a ticket.

[dirt road ninja]

My wife bought it the first time we took the kids and she knows it worked out in our favor. We stayed on the grounds the entire time. The second time we went( Feb 2011) my daughter was older and wanted to do a the princess stuff. Plus we did a day or two at Universal. We did not get it the second time. That also worked out in our favor.

If you are staying off the grounds I would not get it.

My wife and I are not big Disney people, so I know there is much better advise out there. I found Universal much more fun and told the kids that if they want to go back to disney daddy will have to arrange a turkey hunt while we are there.Turkey and deer all over the Grounds there. Take a ride around the Grounds early in the morning or late in the evening.

Good Luck and bring comfortable, well worn, proven shoes.

[sugarray]

My wife bought it the first time we took the kids and she knows it worked out in our favor. We stayed on the grounds the entire time. The second time we went( Feb 2011) my daughter was older and wanted to do a the princess stuff. Plus we did a day or two at Universal. We did not get it the second time. That also worked out in our favor.

If you are staying off the grounds I would not get it.

My wife and I are not big Disney people, so I know there is much better advise out there. I found Universal much more fun and told the kids that if they want to go back to disney daddy will have to arrange a turkey hunt while we are there.Turkey and deer all over the Grounds there. Take a ride around the Grounds early in the morning or late in the evening.

Good Luck and bring comfortable, well worn, proven shoes.

Good advice.  This is my our 3rd trip, kids' second.  Seems like a good deal, but still wanted to see what others experience is.  Thanks!!!

[rtsj]

When u going Ray? We are planning a trip in spring of 2012 as well.

[sugarray]

Well right now we are planning to go the first week of April, but that may change if my best friend decides to go.  We are trying to go during spring break, I would like to go earlier.  I had a hunt planned for this week, but the wife is nixing that.


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[kdog]

Ray,
My wifea kids and i have gone to Disney twice and the last time we went 3 years ago we got the family meal plan and we really liked it.You can eat your dinner meal wherever you want in Disney and what we did was go to the more expensive resorts and have dinner there.Example one day we ate in a French restraunt in Epcott,,,also ate in this expensive canadian steak restraunt Le CellierSteak house in Epcot,One day we had dinner at the Wilderness lodge which was very cool,and another day we had dinner at the Mexican restaraunt in Coronado springs resort.So if you plan it correctly you can really get some good meals for your $$.Not just the hotdogs ,hamburgers,fries and chicken tenders at Magic Kingdom.

Also ate at Rain Forest cafe one day in animal Kingdom which the kids really enjoyed.

[BOFF]

Only been one time. We went last year July 26-August 3. At this time almost last year we were at Disney. *sigh*




Sorry, got carried away with the memories. What was the question?

*looks up at top of thread, reading, reading* 

Oh yeah!!.

Totally worth it!!!!!!!!

We stayed on campus,  8 nights. We had the deluxe dining plan of 3 meals and 2 snacks per person. Particularly since we wanted to do the character dining. We also went to the better restaurants and made reservations to each WAY in advance. Best thing we every did. Had we not, the out of pocket expense would have been terrible.

I gotta tell you, though you may have already eaten there,  you have to eat at Le CellierSteak house in Epcot. We ate there twice.    Wonderful steak and meal. 

A bottled water is a "snack" as is an ice cream treat or soda. (You probably already know this.) We still had one meal each and about 6 snacks left on our card, but I'd do it again, maybe in another 2 years when we save some more.

However, I'm all about FOOD!! 

God Bless,
David B.

 

[Old Gobbler]

Well I live in Florida and been there countless times , make sure to stop by Universal Studios also, that place is real nice too , they did the park over with the Harry Potter and the place gets packed at times 

I try not to  eat on the parks its way too pricey and the food is not that great ,and there are long lines and waits for service ,unless you like the breakfast with Micky etc...  warning ...it is going to set you back a few bucks

I usually pig out with a huge breakfast off the park , the kind that stuffs you so that you cant eat lunch , then around 3 - 4 pm leave the park and head over to a restaurant of your choice , I used to head over to the all you can eat lobster Buffet's  , steak whatever you want chilli's , if your on a budget hit up McDonalds  - then go back to the park for the afternoon ,fireworks - the 3-4pm dinner is a good time to do a park switch like go from Magic Kingdom , over to MGM etc....

I do like staying at the Disney hotels, the best value is the All Stars Resort, there is some fancy ones , but you know what they all have hot showers , clean sheets , and A/C  I'm usually so tired when my head hits the pillow I could me staying at the Ritz and my eyelids wouldn't know the difference -  there is a good cafeteria at the All Stars Resort and the service is fast , but Ill tell you this a family of 4 will walk out of there paying 40- 70 bucks for a lunch - 


Try to avoid Magic Kingdom on Saturdays , usually that is stop #1 for tourists and most show up on Sat - get the fast passes for the roller coasters to avoid the waits ,a big money saver is to  bring lots of drinks in cans and snacks , you can even bring sandwich's - everyone does it , load them up in a backpack and haul it in on back , security has never stopped anyone for this , if they do tell them you are on a special diet etc-


best rides in Orlando - 

1)Harry Potter - hogwarts castle /Universial Studios
2) Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit at Universal Studios
3)Rockin Roller Coaster - MGM Disney
4) Soarin' - Epcot
the rest like the coasters at Magic Kingdom are good also like space mountain , splash mountain etc...

[chcltlabz]

We went off-season, stayed on the resort and went with the meal plan.  Didn't regret any of it.  Here's what we found.

Staying on the resort was well worth it for us, at least at this time.  Staying off resort would have cost us more and been more of a hassle.  Deal we got was buy 3 nights, get 4 nights free.  Tickets included for 7 days, and we upgraded to the park hoppers for 50 bucks.

For those of us who don't go there very often, there was more to do in the parks than what we could do in 7 days, so we didn't worry about going to Universal, etc.

Off season was definitely the way to go if you can swing it.  I never waited more than 30 minutes, and only used the fast pass once.  Crowds were nonexistent.

Meal plan was definitely worth it for us.  We used our fast serve meal for breakfast most days, and used our snacks for lunch.  It was more than enough food for sure.  We took water bottles with us, so we didn't run into the problem of using a snack for a bottle of water.  Probably half of the "snacks" we got they didn't even charge us for.  We ended up using up the rest of our remaining snacks for plane food for the way home.

The Disney credit card was a great deal for us.  We had it for a while before we booked to accumulate points, and booked our trip on it, which saved us money and we got free financing on it.  Then you get a bunch of benefits like free pictures, discounts on souveniers, etc.

As for staying on the resort, again, worked out great for us.  We didn't have to worry about our luggage at all.  We just got off the plane and our bags were already in our room when we got there.  Same thing on the way back.  Didn't have to lug any souveniers we bought either.  Just gave them our room key to swipe and everything we bought was there waiting for us when we got there.  Speaking of room keys, since we got the package, your room key was your park pass and your food pass too.  Could even buy everything you want with the same key.  Really cuts down on what you have to keep track of.

[BigGobbler]

 If you stay at a hotel on Disney property do the meal deal but if you stay off property do not. Its way cheaper to hit the areas to eat outside of Disney.You will spend most time waiting in lines anyway. Take a water bottle with you and refill it at the water fountains, big savings there. Take snack bars and and that stuff to get you through the day and have a nice sit down dinner somewhere.If you stay at one of the hotels on property plan on getting up early so you can get in the park like an hour or so before anyone else,they open the gates earlier just for hotel guests. Do the fast pass rides and then hit the busy rides during the shows or parade times. If you were going to skip a park or not spend much time in one it should be epcot not much for little kids compaired to the other 3 parks. Oh man SPRING BREAK ouch busy busy busy thats all i will say. We go about 50 times a year and stay away from the holidays and the middle of summer. They are putting a new ride in toontown thats is going to be something. You can borrow my gun and stuff and Maybe you can sneak out early one day and we can get you on one of them  osceolas and be back by 10.  Some good public hunting just minutes down the road from disney.

[stinkpickle]

I think we're going somewhere in the October 1-15th range.  We're gonna try to stay at the All Stars - Movies (or something like that) and try out the meal plan.  Maybe it'll only serve as a learning experience.   

Do any of you local folks know if the parks are crowded that time of year?

[OLE RASPY]

This is some good info cuz were going next year i think.

[BigGobbler]

Stinkpickle you are good to go. Cools off a couple degree at night and slow at the parks that time of year. allstar is a good choice but then again all Disney property hotels are A+ you get what you pay for.Plus they have buses that take you anywhere you want for free they even do the free airport pickup and drop off.  any problems and I have seen them comp without a blink they want you happy and keep there ratings. They have some nice restaurants and the house of blues at downtown Disney shopping village. Oh here the best tip I should charge for this one LOL You want to see the best fireworks and laser show  make sure you see Epcot We go sometimes just to chill and watch them. The best place to sit back and enjoy is at the Mexico Margarita cabana they added a restaurant to it along the lakeside and they have outside tables. You need to get there early to get one, but the Margaritas are good and stiff  making it worth the wait.

[stinkpickle]

Awesome!  I haven't been there since 2000 when I went with my wife and our friends (no kids).  This will be the first time dragging youngsters along, so it might be interesting.   

BTW, back in 2000, we purposely scheduled our trip for the middle of February.  It was 7 degrees when we left the Des Moines airport, and the folks in Orlando were apologizing about the unusually cold weather they were having.  It was 58 degrees!  I stripped down to shorts and rolled around on the ground.      I somehow managed not to get kicked outta Coronado Springs, though.

[sugarray]

What would you say is the off season?

I have read where there are 4 different price seasons, but WDW doesn't post them up like beach houses do.  My kids will be in Pre-K and 1st grade, I have no qualms about pulling them out for a week at this age.

I would like February for the temps and my thoughts for smaller crowds, but my wife is not agreeing.  Also, thought about going the week of Thanksgiving and missing deer season, we really get 2 weeks though,  

SP, which dining plan are you looking into?